Responder Alert Autism Awareness Program
Chief Joao A. Chaves is pleased to announce a new program to protect autistic children and adults in our community. The program which was founded by Chief David Green of the Wellford City Police Department in South Carolina and sponsored by a generous gift from Vector Centerline De-Escalation Shields is rolling out an amazing nation-wide program to bring autism and EDP awareness to law enforcement to better connect communities nationwide.
When an officer arrives to a call and a person is behaving erratically, that officer needs to be able to evaluate the person to decide if he or she is a credible threat, having an emotional episode or if the person could in fact be autistic. This needs to be done in the safest way possible for both the officer and the person being interviewed. A lot of departments don’t have very important tools and much needed training to more safely interact with a person or child who could be having an emotional episode unannounced to an officer. Vector currently provides shields and training for officers who may have to interact with autistic children or adults. Vector provides specially designed stickers for families to place on the front door or near the front door of a home where an autistic child or adult lives. This sticker notifies responders at a glance that there is possibly an autistic person or child or inside. This sticker can also be placed on the back of a vehicle. In this way, an officer has a better idea of who he or she may be encountering on a call. If a person is acting erratically and the officer sees the sticker, this is a good indication that this child or person may be autistic and needs to be handled differently than a regular person.
According to a 2020 CDC report, approximately 1 in 54 children in the United States is diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder and autism is the fastest growing developmental disability. Another recent study stated that more than 3.5 million Americans live with an autism spectrum disorder. It’s a devastating fact that with these ever-increasing numbers of autistic people, that every year autistic children or adults are injured or killed by police who unfortunately confuse the erratic behavior of an autistic person or child with that of a threatening criminal.
After listening to a Podcast featuring Chief Green and representatives from Vector Centerline De-Escalation Shields discussing the program, Chief Chaves decided to bring this very valuable program to the residents of Halifax. The autism first responder awareness program will be able to identify autistic children and adults in our community.
A few years ago Chief Chaves was able to purchase the Vector Shields and Active Shooter Response Kits to be placed in every police cruiser. These shields allows officers to respond and be protected behind a ballistic shield. Due to this additional level of protection the officers feel better protected and the use of lethal force is minimized since they can deescalate the incident.
Thanks to Vector Centerline De-Escalation Shields for taking a giant step towards protecting the autistic and other emotionally disturbed persons and providing these stickers to the Halifax Police Department.
If you are the parent, loved one or friend of an autistic person, autistic child or any person with a disability who could potentially have an episode during an interaction with law enforcement please call the Halifax Police Department @ 781-294-8713 to have an officer bring a “Responder Alert” sticker to your residence or stop by the station during normal business hours to pick them up.
Chief Joao Chaves